A pogo pin is a device used in electronics to establish a (usually temporary) connection between two circuit members (e.g., printed circuit boards). The pogo pin usually takes the form of a slender cylinder containing two sharp, spring-loaded pins. Pressed between two electronic circuits, the sharp points at each end of the pogo pin make secure contacts with the two circuits and thereby connect them together.
Pogo pins are usually arranged in a dense array, connecting together many individual nodes of the two circuit boards. They are very commonly found in automatic test equipment in the form of a bed of nails, where they facilitate the rapid, reliable connection of the devices under test (DUTs).
When used in the high-performance applications, pogo pins must be very carefully designed to allow not only high reliability across many mating/unmating cycles but also high-fidelity transmission of the electrical signals. The pins themselves must be hard, yet plated with a substance (such as gold) that provides for reliable contact. Within the body of the pogo pin, the pins must make good electrical contact with the body. The design of pogo pins to be used in matched-impedance circuits is especially challenging; to maintain the correct characteristic impedance.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a low force and low contact resistance pogo pin device for semiconductor testing.